ALEXANDER COFFMAN ROSS 

AUTHOR OF 

^'TIPPECANOE AND TYLER, TOO" 



GALBREATH 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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ALEXANDER COFFMAN ROSS 
Author of "TIPPECANOE AND TYLER, TOO'* 



By 
CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH 



lustrated 



Columbus. Ohio : 

Press of Fred. J. Heer 

M C M V 



LiERARYof OONGRtSS 
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COPY S. 



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Copyright 1905 

By 

Charles Birleigh Galbreath 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 



The following sketch, in substantially its present form, first 
•appeared in the Quarterly of the Ohio Archaeological and His- 
torical Society, January, 1905. For the privilege of reproducing 
it, the author is under obligations to the Society and its worthy 
.and courteous Secretary, Hon. E. O. Randall. 



E SOMeS OF OLD. 



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ALEXANDER COFFMAN ROSS. 



AUTHOR OF "TIPPECANOE AND TYLER. TOO. 



•*I am a Buckeye, from the Buckeye State." This was the 
proud declaration of the author of Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, 
as he faced a large and enthusiastic audience in Xew \ ork City, 
just before he gave to fame that political campaign song — the 
most effective ever sung in the history of the Republic. 



Alexander (^oilman Ross tirsr ^i.pened his eyes to the light 
in Zanesville. O.. May 31, 1812. His father. Elijah Ross.^ bom 
in Brownsville. Pa.. November. 1786. located in Zanestown. 
( Zanesville ) in 1804. and died there Februan.- 29. 1864. He was 
a soldier of the \\'ar of 181 2. and. being a gunsmith, was ordered 
to remain in his home town to repair guns, swords and accoutre- 
ments. His wife, whose maiden name was Mar>- Coffman. was 
born at Fredericktown. Pa.. September 10. 1788. and died in 
Zanesville December 29. 1862. Their family numbered twelve 

^In 18(4. Elijah Ross came to Zanestown (Zanesville* and prospected 
•.hrough the Muskingum and Miami valleys. He was a gunsmith by trade, 
the first of this section, and socn after his arrival in the new countr>- 
settled in the village and erected a cabin, which served as dwelling and 
shop, on what is now the northeast comer of Locust alley and Second 
street. At the beginning of the War of 18r2. he entered the service as 
third corporal, and was detailed to remain at home and repair arms for 
the soldiers. In 1816 he moved to West Zanesville. In 1823 he returned 
to the east side of the river, where he continued to work at his trade. 
He bored his own gun barrels, made the first blow-pipes there used for 
blowing glass ( 1815 » . and sometimes aided the glass-blowers in their 
work. He was especially fond of fox hunting, and seemed never hap- 
pier than when following his hounds over the Muskingum hills. A genial, 
unassuming man and a total abstainer from intoxicants, he lived to the 
ripe age of seventy-nine years, and died respected for his industry- and 
honestj-. (5) 



6 Alexander Coffnwn Ross, 

children, two of whom, Mrs. Daniel Hurd, of Denver, Col., and 
Mrs. George W. Keene, of New York City, still survive. 

The parents were of the sturdy pioneers of the new state. 
They began life on the frontier in a typical log cabin of the 
period. Here the subject of this sketch passed his boyhood in the 
midst of healthful home influences and the not unfortunate envi- 
ronment of this growing and ambitious western town, located on 
the banks of the Muskingum, and directly in the line of the great 
overland thoroughfare along which the tide of civilization was 
moving to regions more remote. At the close of the second 
decade of the last century, the "town of Zane,,^ ranked second 
among the incorporated places of Ohio and stood without a rival 
north of the "River Beautiful" in thrift, aspiration and progres- 
sive spirit. The old road, known in history as "Zane's Trace," 
leading backward toward the base of American culture and expan- 
sive energy in the East, and downward southwesterly to the realm 
of forests primeval, was an avenue for the exchange of ideas as 
well as merchandise. The youth wdio in "that elder day" dwelt 
at the junction of the w^aterway and the highway, though sur- 
rounded by the wilderness, felt that he was still on the line of 
communication with the cities of the far-away Atlantic coast. 

Especially was this true of young Ross, who seems to have 
been from early years studious, industrious and prompt to make 
the best of his opportunities. 

His daughter, Ellen, writing interestingly of his social qual- 
ities, savs : 

His grandfather was a canny Scotchman, and I think it must have 
been from this ancestor that Alexander inherited his social traits and love 
of dancing, for one of the sisters, Margaret, used to say that the only 
recollection of her grandfather was seeing the old gentleman, on one of 
his visits to his son in Ohio, come dancing into the room in his black 
velvet knee breeches and silver shoe buckles, as gay and active as any 
young dandy of his day. 

From his father he doubtless inherited, and acquired a fond- 
ness and aptness for mechanical pursuits. In the little shop at 
home he witnessed the repair and manufacture of guns, and early 

1 Including Putnam, now a part of Zanesville. 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." 7 

learned to handle tools. Though he did not have the opportunity 
to attend free public schools, his education was not wholly neg- 
lected. Under private teachers and at home he gained a knowl- 
edge of the common branches, which he greatly extended by 
reading with avidity the best literature that he could get. He 
found greatest pleasure in the perusal of scientific works, and 
became an expert in demonstrating by experiment the principles 
set forth in what he read. "He was fortunate in having, toward 
the latter part of his school course, two very excellent teachers, 
Allan Cadwallader and his brother, members of a good old 
Quaker family." 

At the age of seventeen years, he was apprenticed to a watch- 
maker and jeweler of his native city. In 1831-32, he completed 
preparation for his chosen trade in New York City. * 

To such a youth, two years in the metropolis was in itself no 
mean education. Here he enjoyed rare opportunities for reading 
and investigation. Nor was his leisure devoted to study alone. 
Music and art invited to occasional entertainment and recreation. 

Returning home at the close of his apprenticeship, he applied 
himself industriously to his trade and was soon recognized as a 
master in his chosen vocation. His chief interest was in the latest 
scientific discoveries, which he interpreted and applied with the 
ease of a trained specialist. 

In 1838 he married Caroline Granger, who was in hearty 
sympathy with his various enterprises and "recreations." Their 
home attracted the young people of Zanesville who were fond 
of music and art. At the age of eighty-five years she manifests 
a lively interest in current events and finds a pleasant residence 
with her two daughters at the old homestead. 

From its founding he was an enthusiastic patron of the 
Athenaeum, the local library, one of the first in the state to have 
a home of its own. This building he rendered famous by using 
it as the object in testing a wonderful invention announced from 
across the sea. 

In the year 1839, Daguerre's process of developing and fix- 
ing upon a plate the image of external objects, or, in other words, 
of making the daguerreotype, was first published in this country. 
Ross read the description and proceeded at once to construct a 







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Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler ^ Too." g 

camera, using telescope lenses, and transferred to a chemically 
prepared plate a counterfeit presentment of the Zanesville 
Athen£eum, the first picture of the kind made in this country out- 
side of New York City and perhaps the first in America:^ 

Following is Ross's account of the successful experiment. It 
illustrates his simple and direct exposition of a scientific process. 
No apology is made for reproducing it in full : 

"On the 29th day of August, 1839, Daguerre gave to the French 
government the process which was proclaimed by Porfessor Arago. It was 
not until the following November that I saw a notice of it, and then a 
newspaper account of the process fully described. I concluded to make 
an attempt to produce a picture, although I had no camera or silver plate. 
I procured two nice cigar boxes, cut one down so that it would slide into 
the other; Master Hill loaned me the object lens from his spy glass, 
the lens having a focal length of eighteen inches. 

"The lens was secured in a paper tube some six inches in length, 
and one end of this tube was fitted into the end of the largest cigar box, 
and a ground plate (which I also made) was fitted so as to slide in and 
out of this box ; — this was my camera. The silvered plate was my next 
consideration, and here I had to rely on my knowledge as a silversmith; 
I took a piece of planished copper about three by four inches, and hav- 
ing dissolved some nitrate of silver in distilled water, I applied the fluid 
with a broad hair pencil to the surface of the plate until it was darkened, 
and then immediately rubbed it over with bitartrate of potash, and re- 
peated the process until I secured a good deposit of the silver. Con- 
irary to instructions I had a 'bufif' — but more of this hereafter — and 
finished up the plate until I had what silversmiths call a 'black polish.' 
The next thing was to coat the plate with iodine; for this I placed some 
iodine in the bottom of a saucer, took it into a dark room, and by the 
light of a tallow dip in one hand, holding the plate over the saucer with 
the other, I watched the process for about twenty minutes, when I found 
it coated to suit me; I afterwards learned that this first coating was 
admirably done. 

"Having progressed thus far, I set my camera out of the front window 
in the building now occupied by the Union Bank, then by Hill & Ross, 
and directed it to the Atheneum. The focus of the lens being so long, 

^ Dr. Draper was experimenting concurrently with Ross, and made 
daguerreotypes about the same time. As exact dates have not been 
preserved, it is impossible to say who may claim precedence in the appli- 
cation of the art. Dr. Draper took a picture of his sister, the first por- 
trait made by the process in this or any other country. To produce this 
it was necessary for her to sit in a bright light with closed eyes for half 
an hour. 



10 



Alexander Coif man Ross, 



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Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." ii 

I could only take in about half the building. I focused the camera, 
took out the ground glass and inserted the prepared plate, covering the 
end of the camera with my hat lest the light might get in at the sides. 
I let in the light when all was ready, and left it exposed for over twenty 
minutes; it was a bright sun light. At the end of the twenty minutes I 
carried camera and all into my darkened room, took out my plate and 
expected to be able to see some outline of the building. I was disap- 
pointed, but soon I remembered that there was another process to be 
gone through, and that I had neglected to make any preparation for it — 
the plate must be exposed to the vapor of mercury. I soon got a spirit 
lamp, put a few drops of mercury in a tea cup, applied the lamp under the 
bottom of the cup and held my plate over it. Soon the fumes rose, and 
by the light of my tallow-dip, I watched the result in breathless anxiety; 
the picture began to appear and I witnessed my success with joy unspeak- 
able. I called my wife and Master Hill and there in that little darkened 
room I showed them the first daguerreotype ever made in Ohio, or west 
of New York City, to my knowledge. 

"But my picture was not yet finished ; the iodine had to be removed 
before I dare expose it to the light : the chemical agent to be used to 
remove the iodine was hyposulphate of soda, and that I could not obtain. 
I thought I would try salt water— I made a strong solution in a tin 
dish, put the plate into it. warmed it over a spirit lamp, and in a short 
time found my picture clear. You may believe that I was not long in 
covering it with glass and showing it to my friends. It was noticed in 
the papers that day as the first daguerreotype ever made in Ohio. 

"In February, 1840, I took a view of the Putnam Seminary, which 
I kept for many years. During the summer of 1840 I did nothing at 
picture taking; the political storm was upon us, and every ordinary em- 
ployment seemed as nothing. 

"In the winter of 1840-41, I got up a set of good instruments and 
turned my attention to taking likenesses, which was then being experi- 
mented upon by Professor Draper, Morse, Walcott and Dr. Chilton. I 
met with many difificulties in not having an achromatic lens, which at that 
time was hard to get. I ordered two planoconvex lenses (four inches 
in diameter with combined focal length of eight inches) from Paris, for 
which I paid $60 to a friend in Philadelphia. In the non-achromatic lens 
there was a certain focus to get which was not only my diflficulty, but a 
difficulty with all others as well. Light has two kinds of rays — the 
chemical and luminous — and these rays have different foci, the focus 
of the chemical rays being within that of the luminous. You can, by 
sight, adjust the camera to the focus of the luminous rays, but, to get 
a well defined picture you must get j'Our plate into the focus of the chem- 
ical or actinic rays. This I did not know, and I worked many a day 
experimenting. 

"I had no trouble in getting a picture, but it was always taken in the 
luminous focus and was indistinct. My wife would sit for me for ten 



12 Alexander Coffnian Ross, 

and even fifteen minutes in the sun, still the picture was blurred. I could 
get no information on the subject; I was almost in despair. One day I 
had been using some tea cups in my room, and had placed them on the 
edge of the window sill, just in front of where my wife sat. I had made 
some change and was trying to focus the camera on her, as usual. I could 
also see the cups, but not nearly so sharp in outline. I took the picture, 
developed it, and, to my great delight, found that the cup nearest the in- 
strument was perfect, even showing the small flower on it. I felt as if 
I had made a great discovery, and to me it was one. After reflecting 
over the matter. I concluded to mark the tube of tlie camera as it was 
then adjusted. I then looked through the camera at the cup, and moved 
the tube until the cup was in the luminous focus, and then again marked 
the tube; the distance between the two marks thus made was about the 
one-eighth of an inch. 

"I tlien prepared a good plate, placed my wife again, got the luminous 
focus, then pushed the tube in one-eighth of an inch, took a picture and 
found it an excellent one. My delight was unbounded. I felt that I had 
overcome a great difficulty, and solved a mystery. I was not long in let- 
ting it be known, and many a poor devil did I help out of difficulty, with- 
out reward. Visitors from Springfield, Marietta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, 
and other places, called upon me for information and got it free of 
charge. A Professor Garlick, however, insisted upon making some com- 
pensation, and gave me a splendidly bound book of steel engravings of 
the London Art Gallery. 

"I will finish this by stating that, except those made by myself, I 
never saw a daguerreotype until the fall of 1841. I was frequently told 
by persons who had seen other pictures, that mine were far superior to 
any they had seen, although not so sharp in the outline as those taken 
with the achromatic lens. Mine were strong and bold, and could be seen 
in any position. I received the first premium at the Mechanics' Institute 
exhibition at Cincinnati i;i June 1842. I will now refer back to the buff. 
I found the superiority of my pictures was altogether in the manner in 
which I polished my plates. 

"All others at the beginning followed Daguerre's process to the let- 
ter, and being a silversmith I knew that with the buf¥ was the only pos- 
sible way that a silver plate could be brought to a high polish, and as 
Daguerre said, 'the higher the polish the better.' I kept it no secret; it 
soon came into general use, and some few years after some one got out a 
patent for the bufT wheel. If I could see you I could tell you many little 
incidents about the daguerreotype flattering to me, but I do not care to 
write them out.' " 

Jttdge Jame.s Sheward, late of Dtinkirk, N. Y., formerly 
of Zanesville, wrote a number of articles for the Courier of the 
latter city and sig-ned them "Black Hand." In one of these 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." 13 

he included the foregoing extract from a letter written to him 
by Ross, but not intended for publication. The two were life- 
long friends. 

The details of Daguerre's procees seem to have been pub- 
lished in London, August 26, 1839. As there were no regular 
steamship lines across the Atlantic at that time, it must have 
been several weeks later when publication was made in America. 
Ross may therefore have been the first to make a daguerreotype 
on this side of the Atlantic. 

Col. R. B. Brown, of Zanesville, who was intimately ac- 
quainted with Ross, in a letter to the writer says : 

"You will note that Mr. Ross's pictures were made in November, 
1839, following the publication of the description of the Daguerre pro- 
cess in a French journal i.he latter part of August of that year. The trans- 
lation was printed in New York as soon as the mail could bring the 
article, and I am sure that you will make no mistake in the claim that 
A. C. Ross made the first daguerreotype in the United States. Of this I 
know :Mr. Ross never had a doubt, but I have heard him say, as he has 
been quoted, 'I made the first west of the Alleghanies." To me he always 
claimed, 'I made the first in this country.' I believe it, and I do not 
believe that the statement can be disproved." 

As first practiced, the process required" long exposure, and 
was applied successfully only to inanimate objects. Dr. Draper 
introduced many improvements. Ross followed these closely, 
and soon made excellent pictures, with apparatus of his own 
manufacture. 

No sooner had the Alorse system of telegraphy been an- 
nounced than he began to test it experimentally. When the first 
line reached Zanesville, in 1847, he was so familiar with the 
practical working of the invention that he took charge of the 
office and became the first telegraph operator of the city. 

In a similar manner he constructed from written descriptions 
the telephone, and even the phonograph, before either was brought 
to the city. When the latter was finally put on exhibition there, 
a friend called and invited him to see and hear it. 

'Tt is not at all necessary or worth my while," said he. "I 
have had for some days a machine of my own make that works 
very satisfactorily." 



14 Alexander Coffiiian Ross, 

As his father had followed the chase with keen zest, the son 
found interest in the study of natural history and taxidermy, and 
choice specimens usually adorned the windows of his jewelry 
store. 

In his later years, he devoted a part of his leisure to water- 
color painting, and did work that might well have been the envy 
of the professional. 

His scientific reading led him early into the investigation of 
gas lighting. He organized the first company to ofifer this illu- 
minant to the city, and, as its president, conducted this business 
venture with marked success. 

When an express office was opened in Zanesville he was 
chosen agent. He retired from the jewelry business in 1863. 
Four years later .he withdrew from the management of the 
express office, to devote his entire time to the gas company and 
the insurance business. He was the guiding spirit in these 
interests until a few days before his death. 

His was a fervent patriotism. He was president of the 
War Association of Muskingum County in the early sixties. He 
rhoroughly understood military tactics, was an officer in a local 
independent company, and at the outbreak of the Civil War 
drilled numerous members of the "awkward squad/' General 
M. D. Leggett among them. His son, Charles H. Ross, served 
the Union cause in the field till the flag waved over a united 
country. 

Modest and unassuming in his demeanor, he was blessed 
with a large degree of public spirit, and was ever ready to lend 
his valuable aid to the industrial and moral upbuilding of the 
community. 

This versatile son of Ohio was a lover of music, too. "He 
used to tell how, when a little boy, the young men of the town 
sent him to the circus to learn the popular airs, which, in those 
days, were always sung by the clown. The visit to the circus 
answered two purposes, as he always reproduced the best fea- 
tures, such as tight-rope dancing, vaulting and tumbling, for the 
benefit of the school, as well as singing the songs till the young 
men learned them." At the age of fifteen he began to play on 
the clarionet. He had a good voice, became a member of the 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." 15 

local church choir, and was later in demand on occasions reciuiring 
the services of an entertaining vocalist. 

Of his experience in New York City, his daughter writes : 
-When a boy of twenty he became a member of one of the first 
orchestras organized in New York City— led by Uri Hill-playing 'by ear' 
the first clarinet. Music was always his passion, and he had opportunities 
when in New York on business to hear all the best musicians. When he 
returned to Zanesville to reside, the citizens reaped the benefit, for through 
his individual efforts all the first troupes traveling came to Zanesville and 
he made many warm friends among them." 

The wave of Whig sentiment that swept over the country in 
the later thirties rose to tidal height in the memorable campaign 
of 1840. To the movement, Alexander Coffman Ross contrib- 
uted a service that helped to swell the enthusiasm for ''Old Tip- 
pecanoe," and carried the fame of the "Buckeye boys" and the 
Buckeye State to every home in the Union. 

Though the theme might warrant the digression, space will 
not permit a general survey of the great uprising in support of 
William Henry Harrison — unfortunately designated in history 
as the "log cabin and hard cider campaign." If the political 
foes of that grand old patriot helped to their own immediate 
imdoing in derisively referring to him as the "log cabin, hard- 
cider candidate," in the long run they would seem to have accom- 
plished something of their purpose, to have detracted from the 
movement and the man, when a twentieth century historian can 
sit down and calmly write : 

"In the campaign referred to a log cabin was chosen as a symbol 
of the plain and unpretentious candidate, and a barrel of cider as that of 
his hospitality. During the campaign, all over the country, in hamlets, 
villages, and cities, log cabins were erected and fully supplied with barrels 
of cider. These houses were the usual gathering places of the partisans 
of Harrison, young and old, and to every one hard cider was freely given. 
The meetings were often mere drunken carousals that were injurious to 
all and especially to youth. Many a drunkard afterwards pointed sadly 
to 'the hard cider campaign in 1840, as the time of his departure from 
sobriety and respectability." 

Doubtless drunken brawls sometimes attended the big dem- 
onstrations of the campaign. It is not true, however, that they 



i6 Alexander Coffman Ross, 

were peculiar to it or that the uprising was a wild, bacchanalian 
orgie in honor of the fermented juice of the orchard and kin- 
dred spirits. 

General Harrison had lived in a log cabin. He was for a 
number of years a poor farmer. But it was not because of this 
that he was nominated for the presidency. He was simple, 
direct, hospitable and kind, but he was more. He was courage- 
ous, he was honest, he was a man of affairs. On the field and 
in the forum he had proven his patriotism and statesmanship. 
Though surpassed in constitutional lore and forensic power by 
Webster and Clay, he was an orator of no mean ability, prepared 
his own addresses, and delivered them with an effectiveness 
rarely surpassed by a candidate for the presidency. 

The personality of General Harrison, however, ^yas not the 
occasion of the political upheaval of 1840. It was the rising of 
the people in their might to smite the ruling autocracy. For 
twelve years the Republic had been ruled by one man. General 
Jackson will ever be honored for repelling the invader at New 
Orleans and suppressing nullification in South Carolina, but it 
is putting it mildly to say that in his administrations he levied 
upon the American people a heavy tribute for his services. He 
played politics to the limit. By profession and practice he was a 
spoilsman. Entering upon his duties with the declaration that the 
President should be ineligible for re-election, he did everything 
in his power to pave the way to succeed himself in office. 

At the close of his second term, he used the political machine 
that he had built up to dictate the nomination of his successor. 
Not satisfied to pause here, he had Van Buren renominated for 
a second term. Every appointive office was filled by a man whose 
first duty was to Jackson. The public service exhibited the inev- 
itable results of the spoils system — insolence and incompetence. 

The Jacksonian regime dominated the body politic. It dic- 
tated nominations, national, state and local. Governors, judges 
and country " 'squires" bowed to its sway. At length its fruit 
began to ripen. Defalcations were frequent ; "leg treasurers" 
were numerous. "Business generally was at a standstill ; the cur- 
rency was in such a confused state that specie to pay postage 
was almost beyond reach ; banks had been in a state of suspen- 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." ij- 

sion for a long time ; mechanics and laboring men were out of 
employment or working for 62^. 75, or 87^ cents a day, payable 
in '£)rder.s on the store ;' market money could be obtained with 
difficulty, and things generally had reached so low an ebb as tO' 
make any change seem desirable." 

The people, goaded to desperation, resolved to dethrone the- 
dictator and restore the Republic to the ideal of the fathers. Pre- 
paratory to their supreme etifort to dislodge a desperate and thor- 
oughly organized foe from the places of power, the Whigs and 
independent voters of the country chose Harrison as their leader,, 
and they chose well. Those who have read his speeches, espe- 
cially the one delivered at Dayton, and his inaugural address, can 
but regret that he did not live to carry out the reforms to which 
he gave eloquent approval. 

The campaign opened with a burst of enthusiasm that sur- 
prised the Whig leaders almost as much as their opponents. On 
the 22d of February, 1840, twenty thousand people from all 
parts of the state met in convention at Columbus, O., to ratify 
the nomination of Harrison and Tyler. From places near and 
remote they came. Some had spent days on the journey. An 
eye-witness thus describes the scene presented in the capital city 
on that memorable occasion : 

"The rain came down in torrents, the streets were one vast sheet of 
mud, but the crowds paid no heed to the elements. A full-rigged ship 
on wheels, canoes, log cabins, with inmates feasting on corn-pone and 
hard cider, miniature forts, flags, banners, drums and fifes, bands of 
music, live coons, roosters crowing, and shouting men by the ten thousand, 
made a scene of attraction, confusion, and excitement such as has never 
been equaled. Stands were erected, and orators went to work ; but the 
staid party leaders failed to hit the key-note. Itinerant speakers mounted' 
store-boxes, and blazed away. It was made known that the Cleveland' 
delegation, on their route to the city, had had the wheels stolen from some 
of their wagons by Locofocos, and were compelled to continue their jour- 
ney on foot. One of these enforced foot-passengers was something of a 
poet, and wrote a song descriptive of 'Up Salt River,' and was encored' 
over and over again. On the spur of the moment, many songs were 
written and sung; the pent-up enthusiasm had found vent." 

The spirit of the movement pervaded every rank. The busi- 
ness man, the recluse and the scholar touched elbows with lustT 



i8 ' Alexander Coffinan Ross, 

farmers, waded in the mud and helped to swell the universal 
shout. 

In the procession was a cabin on wheels from Union County. 
It was made of buckeye logs, and in it was a band of singers 
■discoursing, to the tune of Highland Laddie, the famous Buckeye 
song, written for the occasion by perhaps the first Ohio poet of 
his time, Otway Curry : 

Oh, where, tell me where, was your Buckeye cabin made? 
Oh, where, tell me where, was your Buckeye cabin made? 
'Twas built among the merry boys that wield the plow and spade, 
Where the log cabin stands, in the bonnie Buckeye shade. 

Oh, what, tell me what, is to be your cabin's fate? 
Oh, what, tell me what, is to be your cabin's fate? 
We'll wheel it to the capital, and place it there elate. 
For a token and a sign of the bonnie Buckeye Slate ! 

Oh, why, tell me why, does your Buckeye cabin go? 
Oh, why, tell me why, does your Buckeye cabin go? 
It goes against the spoilsmen, for well its builders know 
It was Harrison that fought for the cabins long ago. 

Oh, what, tell me what, then, will little Martin do? 
Oh, what, tell me what, then, will little Martin do? 
He'll "follow in the footsteps" of Price and Swarthout too, 
While the log cabin rings again with old Tippecanoe. 

Oh, who fell before him in battle, tell me who? 
Oh, who fell before him in battle, tell me who? 
lie drove the savage legions, and British armies too 
At the Rapids, and the Thames, and old Tippecanoe ! 

By whom, tell me whom, will the battle next be won? 
By whom, tell me whom, will the battle next be won? 
The spoilsmen and leg treasurers will soon begin to run ! 
And the "Log Cabin Candidate" will march to Washington ! 

"But," said Judge Sheward, of Zanesville, "the song of the 
•campaign had not yet been written." He then proceeds with the 
following account of its origin and progress to popularity : 

"On the return of our delegation a Tippecanoe Club was formed, 
and a glee club organized, of whom Ross was one. The club meetings 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." 



19 




©WR COUNTRY'S 




BADGE OF ZANESVILLE TIPPECANOE CLXTO. 

Engraved by Rcss. 



20 Alexander Coffman Ross, 

were opened and closed with singing by the glee club. Billy McKibbon 
wrote 'Amos Peddling Yokes,' to be sung to the tune of 'Yip, fal, lal,' 
which proved very popular; he also composed 'Hard Times,' and 'Martin's. 
Lament.' Those who figured in that day will remember the chorus : 

Oh, dear ! what will become of me ? 

Oh, dear! what shall I do? 
I am certainly doomed to be beaten 

By the heroes of Tippecanoe. 

"This song was well received, but there seemed something lacking.. 
The wild outburst of feeling demanded by the meetings had not yet been 
provided for. Tom Lauder suggested to Ross that the tune of Little Pigs 
would furnish a chorus just adapted for the meetings. Ross seized upon 
the suggestion, and on the succeeding Sunday, while he was singing as 
a member of a church choir, his head was full of 'Little Pigs,' and efforts 
to make a song fitting the time and the circumstances. Oblivious to all 
else, he had, before the sermon was finished, blocked out the song of 
Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. The line, as originally composed by him of 

Van, Van, you're a nice little man, 

did not suit him, and when Saturday night came round he was cudgelling- 
his brains to amend it. He was absent from the meeting, and was sent 
for. He came, and informed the glee club that he had a new song to 
sing, but that there was one line in it he did not like, and that his delay 
was occasioned by the desire to correct it. 

'Let me hear the line,' said Culbertson. Ross repeated it to him. 

'Thunder!' said he, 'make it — Van's a used-up man!' — and there 
and then the song was completed. 

"The meeting in the Court House was. a monster, the old Senate 
Chamber was crowded full to, hear McKibbon's new song, Martin's La- 
ment, which was loudly applauded and encored. When the first speech 
was over, Ross led off with Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, having furnished 
each member of the glee club with the chorus. That was the song at 
last. Cheers, yells, and encores greeted it. The next day, men and boys 
were singing the chorus in the street, in the work shops, and at the table. 
Olcot White came near to starting a hymn to the tune in the Radical 
Church on South street. What the Marseillaise Hymn was to Frenchmen, 
Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, was to the Whigs of 1840. 

"In Septeniber, Mr. Ross went to New York City to purchase goods. 
He attended a meeting in Lafayette Hall. Prentiss, of Mississippi, Tali- 
niadge, of New York, and Otis, of Boston, were to speak. Ross found 
the hall full of enthusiastic people, and was compelled to stand near the 
entrance. The speakers had not arrived, and several songs were sung to 
keep the crowd together. The stock of songs was soon exhausted, and 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." 21 

the chairman (Charley Delavan, I think) arose and requested any one 
present who could sing, to come forward and do so. Ross said, 'If I could 
^et on the stand, I would sing a song,' and hardly had the words out 
before he found himself passing rapidly over the heads of the crowd, 
to be handed at length on the platform. Questions of 'Who are you?' 
'What's your name?' came from every hand. 

'I am a Buckeye, from the Buckeye State,' was the answer. 'Three 
cheers for the Buckeye State!' cried out the president, and they were 
given with a will. Ross requested the meeting to keep quiet until he had 
sung three or four verses, and it did. But the enthusiasm swelled up 
to an uncontrollable pitch, and at last the whole meeting joined in the 
chorus with a vim and vigor indescribable. The song was encored and 
sung again and again, but the same verses were not repeated, as he had 
many in mind, and could, make them to suit the occasion. While he 
was singing in response to the third encore, the speakers, Otis and Tall- 
madge, arrived, and Ross improvised : 

We'll now stop singing, for Tallmadge is here, here, here. 

And Otis, too. 
We'll have a speech from each of them. 

For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, etc. 

The song, as originally written, v/as as follows : 

TIPPECANOE AND TYLER, TOO. 

What has caused the great commotion, motion, motion. 
Our country through? 
It is the ball a rolling on. 



For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too — Tippecanoe and Tyler, too ; 

And with them we'll beat little Van, Van, Van. 

Van is a used-up man ; 

And with them we'll beat little Van. 

Like the rushing of mighty waters, waters, waters. 
On it will go. 

And in its course will clear the way 
Of Tippecanoe, etc. 

See the Loco standard tottering, tottering, tottering, 
Down it must go. 
And in its place we'll rear the flag 
Of Tippecanoe, etc. 



22 Alexander Coffjiian Ross, 

Don't you hear from every quarter, quarter, quarter, 
Good news and true, 
That swift the ball is rolling on 
For Tippecanoe, etc. 

The Buckeye boys turned out in thousands, thousands. 
Not long ago, 

And at Columbus set their seals 
To Tippecanoe, etc. 

Now you hear Van Jacks talking, talking, talking, 
Things look quite blue, 
For all the world seems turning round 
For Tippecanoe, etc. 

Let them talk about hard cider, cider, cider, 
And log cabins, too, 
'Twill only help to speed the ball 
For Tippecanoe, etc. 

The latch-string hangs outside the door, door, door, 
And is never pulled through 
For it never was the custom of 
Old Tippecanoe, etc. 

He always had his table set, set, set, 
^ For all honest and true, 

And invites them to take a bite 

With Tippecanoe, etc. 

See the spoilsmen and leg treasurers, treas, treas. 
All in a stew. 

For well they know they stand no chance 
With Tippecanoe, etc. 

The fourth stanza was frequently changed to adapt the song 
to the different states. Other stanzas were added to suit par- 
ticular locaHties and special occasions. A modern historian, who 
evidently did not know who wrote it, speaks of it as the "most 
popular song of the campaign," and says that it had, "by the 
inventive song-genius of Horace Greeley and scores of other 
less famous poets been extended to every incident and sentiment 
of the day." The following final stanza was frequently used in 
the Ohio campaign : 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." 23. 

Now who shall be our next governor, governor, 

Who, tell me who? 

Let's have Tom Corwin, for he's a team 
ForTippecanoe and Tyler, too — Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. 
And with him we'll beat Wilson Shannon, Shannon, 
Shannon is a used-up man. 
And with him we'll beat Wilson Shannon ! 

It has been said that the song is poor poetry, and judged by 
literary standards this is certainly true, but the alliteral chorus 
is remarkably musical and "catchy" and the stanzas abound in 
homely truth and telling hits. It is needless to say that it was 
readily understood by all classes. The composition probably 
surpassed all others in popularity, because it more nearly met the 
demands of the hour. 

The reference to the "ball that's rolling on" is worthy of 
notice in passing. Just when the "ball" began to roll in Amer- 
ican political literature has perhaps not yet been definitely deter- 
mined. Thomas H. Benton has been given the credit of starting 
it. Its origin probably dates some years prior to the Harrison 
campaign. It must be admitted, however, that the "ball," like 
the "buckeye," was invested with a new significance and a wider 
currency in the year 1840, and the song written by Ross was 
probably the first that "set the ball in motion." 

In an account of the Young INIen's Whig convention, at 
Baltimore, May 4, 1840, is found the following description of 
one of the features of the Maryland section of the procession : 

"A curious affair followed here, which was immediately preceded 
hv a flag announcing that 'Alleghany is coming.' It was a huge ball, 
;il.out ten feet in diameter, which was rolled along by a number of the 
members of this delegation. The ball was apparently a wooden frame 
covered with linen, painted divers colors, and bearing a multitude of 
inscriptions, apt quotations, original stanzas and pithy sentences." 

At the convention in Nashville. Tenn., August 17th, one of 
the leading attractions was described as follows : 

"The great ball, from Zanesville, Ohio, which came safe to hand on 
the steamer Rochester, on Saturday night, occupied a conspicuous place 
in the procession. It was given in charge of the Kentucky delegation, 
and was hauled on four wheels, under the immediate care of Porter, 



24 Alexander Coffiiian Ross, 

the Kentucky giant. The ball is in the form of a hemisphere, moving 
upon its axis and representing each of the individual states of the Union." 

Ro-ss's daughter gives the following additional information : 

"There was a real ball that illustrated the song. It was an immense 
thing made at Dresden, Ohio, and at great political meetings it was 
drawn in the procession by twenty-four milk white oxen. It was after- 
wards taken to Lexington, Kentucky, but not by oxen." 

The Annapolis Tippecanoe Club, on August i8th. celebrated 
the progress of the cause in a song entitled "The Whig Ball." 
It began as follows : 

Hail to the ball which in grandeur advances, 

Long life to the yeoman who urge it along; 
The abuse of our hero his worth but enhances ; 

Then welcome his triumphs with shout and with song. 
The Whig ball is moving! 
The Whig ball is moving! 

The big ball started from Zanesville was probably the inspi- 
ration for the foregoing and similar effusions that broke forth 
•p.bout this time. At other great meetings throughout the country 
the ball literally "went rolling on." 

It is perhaps needless to say that there have been rival claim- 
ants for the honor of authorship of Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. 
Fortunately, their pretentions, with a single exception, have not 
been sufficiently seriotis to merit attention. Henry Russell, the 
famous English singer, who seems in his later years to have 
developed a penchant for claiming pretty much everything that 
has been written in his line, in his autobiography, gives the fol- 
lowing account of the initial launching of the song on its voyage 
to popularity : 

"About this time, (1841) the presidential election was causing great 
•excitement in America. The rival candidates for the presidency were 
Martin Van Buren, Democrat : and General Harri.son, Whig. 

♦ ^ ik ^ 

"I was one day sitting in the office of the Boston Transcript, and to 
beguile the time while waiting for my friend, Houghton, the editor and 
proprietor, I sat idly turning over the pages of some of the numerous 
•exchange journals with which the office table was littered, when my at- 



Author of "Til^pccaiwc and Tyler, Too." 25 

tention was attracted by a poem on the subject of the forthcoming elec- 
tion. The name of the paper it appeared in has escaped my memory, but 
the poem was called "Tippecanoe," after the famous battle fought and 
won by General Harrison. 

"I only remember now the chorus, which ran as follows : 

For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too • — 
With them we'll beat little Van 
Van ! Van ! Van ! a used up man, 
With them we'll beat little. Van. 

"I had a singular remembrance of an old Irish song, known by the 
poetic title of "Three little pigs lay on very good straw," the chorus of 
which ran thus : 

Lila bolara, Lila bolara, Lila bolara, och hone. 
For my dad is a bonny wee man, man, man, man ! 
My dad is a ])onny wee man. 

"Almost unconsciously 1 put the words of tlie poem before me to the 
melody of the old Irish song, and when Houghton came in I sang them 
over to him. 

"He appeared delighted, and at his sviggestion, I sang the song from 
the window of the Boston Transcript, to an enormous crowd which had 
assembled in the street below. The song was hailed with enthusiasm by 
the Harrison party, and it spread like wildfire through the States, where 
it is sometimes sung even to this day. 

"Such is the true origin of this at one time popular election song. 
There has been much discussion about it from time to time in the Amer- 
ican press, and while I do not claim to have written either the words or 
the music, I do claim to have adapted the one to the other — wedded them 
together, as it were — and giving the song its start in life by singing it 
from the window of the office of the Boston Transcript." 

It is scarcely necessary to observe that the song had become 
popular before it was printed, that it was written to the tune of 
Little Pigs, and that Russell did not see it until long after it 
had been sung. It will be noted that he has made a mistake of 
one year in the date of the campaign and that he is very indefi- 
nite in regard to the time of his rendition of the song in Boston. 
He does not state the occasion of the assembling of the "enor- 
mous crowd" in the "street below," so opportunely after he "sat 
idly turning over the pages of some of the numerous exchange 
journals." One might infer that the people just happened around 



26 Alexander Coffiiia)i Ross, 

in order to be convenient when the song was sung. It is entirely 
probable, however, that on some occasion Russell sang the words. 
to the melody. The peculiar measure would naturally suggest 
the air. 

It is not necessary to dwell on the results of the remarkable 
political contest that called forth the song. The thoroughly 
trained Jacksonian organization, under the skilful leadership of 
the "Little Magician," was overwhelmed by the spontaneous, 
uprising of the country. The enthusiastic hosts, with music and 
song, inducted victorious "Old Tippecanoe" into office. Shortly 
afterward, the new President was laid low by the hand of death. 
There was mourning throughout the land, and the fruits of 
triumph turned to dust on the lips of the victors. 

Alexander Coffman Ross continued to apply himself assid- 
uously to the jewelry business and to devote his leisure to sci- 
ence and music. He composed no airs, but wrote the words of 
a number of songs, some of which were published in the local 
papers. 

He addressed the local medical society, of which he was 
an honorary member, on scientific subjects ; lectured on the 
latest applications of electricity and magnetism before the stu- 
dents of Putnam Seminary ; corresponded with Louis Agassiz 
and Professor Joseph Henry. He was an ardent admirer of 
the latter and insisted that to him rather than to Morse belongs 
the honor of having invented the electric telegraph. Among his 
letters is one from Spencer F. Baird, the famous naturalist and 
secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, thanking him for a 
dontribution on "Flint Ridge." This was published in the 
Smithsonian Report for 1879. As an early contribution to this 
branch of Ohio archaeology, it is appended to this sketch. 

One of his daughters, Elizabeth B. Ross, was a good singer, 
studied harmony and wrote the words and music of a number of 
songs, some of which have had a wide sale. We here reproduce 
the words of two: 

LITTLE BIRD, WHY SINGE.ST THOU? 

Little bird, why singest thou. 

So merrily, so blithe and gay, 
Hast thou ne'er a care to mar 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too. 



2r 




At age of seventy years. 



^8 Alexander Coffnian Ross, 

The pleasure of the passing day? 
I sing, for ah ! my heart's so light, 

No care or thoughts oppress me ; 
And this my song from morn till night, 

I warble free. ' 

Little bird, where dwellest thou. 

Thro' chilling winter's icy reign ; 
Dost thou fly from bough to bough 

And warble forth thy glad refrain? 
Oh yes, I fly to warmer climes, 

When first I feel cold winter's breath, 
And there amid the southern pines, 

I warble free. 

LIST TO THE NIGHTINGALE. 

Come, come with me, dear one. 

Where moonbeams are glancing 
And stars beaming brightly, 

Oh ! come, then, with me. 
Come, then, and we'll wander 

Where waters so sparkling 
Are laving the green earth, 

Oh ! come, then, with me. 
List, to the nightingale singing o'er meadow. 
Trilling a vow to the one that he loves. 

Then come, oh ! come, my dear one. 

And, like the bird of night, 
Give thy heart to the one 

Who now sues for thy love. 

Ross was very popular with the large German element of 
Zanesville, and one of the last occasions on which he sang in 
pnhlic was at a banquet given by the German citizens in the 
autumn of 1869 in celebration of the centennial anniversary of 
the birth of Von Humboldt. He requested his daughter Ellen 
to write him some words to the Marseillaise Hymn. These he 
sang to the delight of those who heard him. One stanza was as 
iollows : 

We sing to-day a nation's glory, 

Germania hails her honored son ! 
But not to lier belongs the story. 

In everv land his fame was won. 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too.' 

From Asia's sunny mountain peaks 

To Alexicana's scorching plain, 
His nata! day is kept again; 

O'er all the world his voice still speaks. 

CHORUS. 

Then swell the choral song 

To hail Von Humboldt's name ! 

Rejoice ! Reioice ! The nation's throng 
To celebrate his fame. 



291 




HOME OF ALEXANDER COFFMAN ROSS, iXOW THE RESIDENCE OF CAROLINE 
GRANGER ROSS, ZANESVILLE, OHIO. 

The author of the famous campaign song of 1840 passed the 
allotted three score years and ten. He was. first of all, a public 
spirited citizen and systematic business man. His recreations 
were the pursuits that brought him local fame along the Hues 
already noted. Of him it was truly said, "There were few things- 
that he had not done, and done well, and fewer that he cared to 
do except as a pastime." 

After a brief illness, he died February 26. 1883. His loss 
was keenly felt bv the city with which he had been identified 



I 



.30 



Alexander Caff man Ross, 




CHARLES H. AND ELLEN G. ROSS. 



From a Daugerreotype Taken by Their Father, A. C. Ross, in 1842. 
is Probably the First Daguerreotype of Children Taken in the 
United States. 



Author of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." 31 

through his entire Hfe. The local military company and other 
organizations expressed a desire to attend the funeral in a body, 
iDut the family, while appreciating the kind intentions, obeyed 
the wishes of the departed in dispensing with all parade and 
•display. 

Of his family, his wife and three children, Misses Elizabeth 
B. and Ellen, of Zanesville, O.. and Major Charles H.. of Mil- 
waukee, Wis., are still living. 

His memory is fondly cherished by those who knew him. 
Though not endowed with what is called "creative genius," he 
wrote a song that became national in celebrity and influence, and 
acquired enduring fame in his Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. 



FLINT RIDGE. 



Flint Ridge lies in Licking and Muskingum counties, about three 
miles south-eastward from Newark, and twelve to fifteen miles west- 
northwest from Zanesville. It extends eight miles southwest by north- 
-east and is from one-fourth of a mile to one mile wide. The ridge 
is cut by hollows, ravines and gorges. Portions of the highest land are 
•comparatively level, and this plateau is underlaid by a stratum of flint 
rock from fifteen inches to three feet in thickness. Besides this stratum 
are numerous fiint bowlders standing up several feet above the surface 
of the ground. On the exact level of the flint are the "diggings" hundreds 
of which may be seen, which range in depth from one or two to thirty 
feet, their depth depending upon the relation of the flint stratum to the 
surface of the earth. The very deep diggings are from the top of a hillock 
on the summit of the Ridge. The trenches are from a few feet to thirty 
feet across at the top, :dl sloping so gradually that it would be easy to 
walk down them. From the deeper cuts the earth appeared to have been 
-carried out; the one from the top of the hillock is still very deep, and 
was about forty feet in perpendicular when completed, with proportional 
width. In one portion was a drift sixty to eighty feet in length, six to 
■eight feet wide, and four to five feet high. The excavation was pursued 
with the same diligence when there was no flint as when the stratum 
was found, and was of the same character, to the same level. Of course, 
when the earth is below the flint level there is no evidence of digging, 
Taut when the earth is above that level the work extends to the flint. These 
works follow the dip of the flint towards east-northeast until the hills 
Ijecame too high above the stratum. In a meadow, and near a stream of 
water on land very much lower than the ridge, occurred a bed of crumbled 



APR 221905 



32 



Alexander Coffiitaii Ross. 



flint and sandstone. This bed was almut fourteen inches in depth, seven; 
feet across, and fifteen to eighteen feet in length. The sandstone was 
near the north part and had been subject to great heat. A quantity of 
ashes was mixed throu<ii the whole bed. Several such beds are re- 
ported in that vicinity, and were generally near the water. No arrow- 
heads or other objects made of flint occurred. Old, gnarly, full-grown 
oaks, some of them three hundred years old, have sprouted and grown 
since these excavation were made. There has not been any sign of a 
workshop discovered in the last sixty years, but at the point usually 
sought by visitors and curiosity hunters flint spalls cover the ground for 
acres. Only one arrow-head has been found there for years. 

A. C. Ross in Sniithsoitian Report for iSyg, page 440. 



ROSS FAMILY. 

Following are the names of the children of Elijah and INIary 
Ross in the order of dates of birth : Theodore, Elizabeth. Alex- 
ander Ceffman, Mrs. Anne Fox, Mrs. Margaret Boyd, Mrs. Ruth 
Hurd, James, Mrs. Jane Stewart, George, Mrs. Harriet Brown, 
Mrs. Elvira Keene and Thomas. 

Alexander's immediate family, whose names occur in the 
preceding sketch, are all still living. 

]\Irs. Ross was the daughter of Oliver Granger who, with 
his brothers, Ebenezer, Henry and James, came to Ohio froni 
Suffield. Connecticut, where their ancestors had lived since 1640. 




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